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Install the app

On the Mac, choose Help → Install Gridshift for iOS… to open the TestFlight invite, or open testflight.apple.com/join/QP89eCaY on the iPhone or iPad. Sign in to the phone with the same Apple Account as your Mac, with iCloud Drive on.

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Play a project

On the Projects tab, tap a project cover. The mini player appears and the newest saved version with a bounce preview starts. Tap the cover again to pause or resume, or another cover to switch.

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Open the full-screen player

Tap the artwork or the name in the mini player. Drag the cover sideways to walk to the next project in the row, and its newest bounce starts.

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Switch versions

In the full-screen player, tap the version and tempo line under the name, or Versions, to open the version list. The skip buttons name the version they land on.

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Leave a comment while you listen

Tap Comment in the full-screen player and type. The comment keeps the version and second that was playing when you opened the field, and appears in the Mac’s comments.

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File projects into collections

Drag a project card into another collection. Tap + in the toolbar to make a collection. To unfile a project, long-press its card inside a collection and choose Remove from [Collection].

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Good to know

  • The phone never gets the full project. It reads small summaries the Mac publishes through iCloud: artwork, tempo, track counts and version previews. A version plays once it has a bounce preview, which Save Version makes on the Mac.
  • Projects are grouped into carousels by collection, plus Unsorted for anything not filed. Collections are shared with the Mac and editable on either device; deleting one changes no project, its projects return to Unsorted.
  • The mini player describes the project it names, not what the speaker plays. A project with nothing bounced cannot play, so paging onto it changes the cover and the bar while the last project plays on.
  • Bounces download on demand. While one is fetched the mini player reads Downloading…, and playback starts once the file is local.
  • The companion cannot delete a project. Delete it on the Mac, from the Project Overview.
  • The app opens on Projects; Samples is the second tab. There is no search tab.
  • The app is always dark, whatever the phone’s appearance. Projects stands on the playing project’s cover, blurred, and the ground fades when the song changes.
  • Pull to refresh rescans iCloud. A failed scan keeps the list you have; the unavailable state appears only when there is nothing to show.
  • The mini player shows artwork, name, and elapsed and total time while that project’s bounce plays, otherwise its tempo. Below runs the whole bounce as a waveform, the played part lit; tap anywhere in it to jump there.
  • Tap the list’s artwork to control playback, the mini player’s to expand.
  • Back restarts after three seconds: once three seconds have played, back restarts the current version instead of skipping.
  • The full-screen player has AirPlay, Comment and Share; Share hands on the bounce file itself. The scrubber shows the bar and beat under the playhead, and there is a repeat button.
  • Swipes sound at once: the music follows the cover, and neighbors are fetched ahead of you.
  • A comment without a position is a note on the whole project. Either kind can be checked off or deleted on either device. Comment edits from the phone are proposals: the Mac merges them per comment, last writer wins, and publishes the result back, so both devices converge on one order.
  • A collection’s own menu renames or deletes it. The long-press menu on a project shows an artwork preview; Remove from [Collection] moves the project back to Unsorted and changes nothing else.
  • iPhone or iPad running iOS / iPadOS 18.0 or later
  • The same Apple Account as your Mac, with iCloud Drive on
  • Gridshift on the Mac saving projects into its iCloud folder, with Sync projects on
  • At least one saved version with a bounce preview for instant playback
Last modified on October 22, 2026